Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Large Cross-Sectional Study Of Presbycusis Reveals Rapid Progressive Decline In Auditory Temporal Acuity, Erol J. Ozmeral, Ann C. Eddins, Robert Frisina Sr., David A. Eddins

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Publications

The auditory system relies on extraordinarily precise timing cues for the accurate perception of speech, music, and object identification. Epidemiological research has documented the age-related progressive decline in hearing sensitivity that is known to be a major health concern for the elderly. Although smaller investigations indicate that auditory temporal processing also declines with age, such measures have not been included in larger studies. Temporal gap detection thresholds (TGDTs; an index of auditory temporal resolution) measured in 1071 listeners (aged 18–98 years) were shown to decline at a minimum rate of 1.05 ms (15%) per decade. Age was a significant predictor …